JOHANNESBURG, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The election of South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as the new leader of ruling African National Congress (ANC) opens up tentative prospects of a policy shift and rise in business confidence, ratings agency Moody’s said on Tuesday.

Moody’s lead sovereign analyst for South Africa, Zuzana Brixiova, said that in his campaign Ramaphosa “articulated a number of broad reform priorities which would, if implemented, begin to address weaknesses flagged when Moody’s placed South Africa’s Baa3 rating on review for downgrade in November 2017”. (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by Mark Heinrich)